Describes how using a flashlight to read language experience chart stories can provide a concrete way to build a foundation for many emergent reader concepts, such as directionality. (SR)

Describes a spur-of-the-moment curriculum development activity involving primary-school students researching the "real" Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo behind the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Notes that the products of the research were shared during a classroom pizza party. (RS)

Recognizing the utility and limitations of traditional curriculum and of present language programming for its mostly Navajo population, the Ganado Public School District developed the GLAD (Ganado Language Arts Development) project, which aims to: develop literacy in kindergarten through third grade students; expand and enrich the pedagogical…

Describes a bilingual open classroom program for kindergarten children in which the classroom environment is rich with printed language and children are introduced to reading by an individualized system they both enjoy and profit from. Tells how children "write" books, how phonics is introduced, and how reading is incorporated in a variety of…

Describes how to use word processing with first graders in lessons exploring oral and written language via the computer. Suggests ways to use the language experience approach in whole-class as well as small-group instruction. (SR)

Surveys the implementation of language experience and considers its benefits. Describes how teachers use language experience to demonstrate that language is used to express ideas and thoughts. Concludes that literacy educators need to redouble efforts to model Language Experience at all levels of professional development and to link theory with…

A kindergarten teacher recounts her classroom experience introducing children to reading via the whole language approach, which is based on the belief that children learn to read and write naturally by listening, watching, speaking, and writing. Classroom photographs and samples of student work illustrate the article. (DB)

One of the programs included in "Effective Reading Programs....," is this program begun in 1969 which uses a language experience approach during the first three years of the children's education, kindergarten through second grade. The primary objective is to develop an initial sight vocabulary and word recognition skills in each child by…

Describes a program in which first-grade minority group children wrote the books to stock a classroom library. (FL)

A kindergarten teacher stimulated many language experience and dramatic activities when she came to class one day impersonating the crabby teacher Viola Swamp, from the children's story, "Miss Nelson Is Missing!" (SJL)

This paper describes a child-centered first grade classroom where learning to read is viewed as a natural step in the language acquisition process. Discussed in detail are methods of individualizing instruction for four particular children, the use of basal readers, daily writing activities using the Language Experience Approach, and both group…

Describes an intensive integrated art and language arts instructional program for first-grade at-risk children. Notes that a combination of whole language, language experience, and basal reading approaches. Finds a marked improvement in reading, writing ability, and language ability. (RS)

A kindergarten teacher, two preservice teachers, and a college consultant on educational computer technology designed and developed a 10-day whole-language integrated unit on the theme of Beatrix Potter's "Benjamin Bunny." The project was designed as a demonstration of the potential of integrating the CD-ROM-based version of…

Describes the effect of a language-rich program on a student repeating first grade and viewed as reading disabled. Concludes that the student experienced early and sustained success in reading and writing in the language- and meaning-centered program. (RS)

A research project was undertaken to explore the effects of using a microcomputer equipped with a speech synthesizer to enhance and aid in the individualization of the language experience approach in beginning reading instruction. A prototypic program was developed and pilot-tested with 12 kindergarten children over a three-week period, with each…